Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions: a Journal of Travels in the year 1852. By Edward Robinson, Eli Smith, and others. Drawn up from the original Diaries, with Historical Illus- trations, by Edward Robinson, D.D., LL.D., Pro- fessor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York: with Maps and Plans VI. INTERPRETATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE. 1. Israel in the Apocalypse; or, an Examination of the Revelation, with a view to discover in Israel and her Enemies the Key to its Interpretation. By the Rev. George Erving Winslow, M.D., Rector of Alexton, and Vicar of Tugby-cum-Norton, Leicester- 2. An Exposition of the Book of the Revelation. By CONTENTS. 1. Later Biblical Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Regions: a Journal of Travels in the year 1852. By Edward Robinson, Eli Smith, and others. Drawn up from the original Diaries, with Historical Illus- trations, by Edward Robinson, D.D., LL.D., Pro- fessor of Biblical Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York: with Maps and Plans 2. History of the Holy City: Notices of Jerusalem. Two An Essay on the Progressive Developments of the Divine Purpose. By the Rev. Edward Geare, A.M. III. FERNS, AND FERN LITERATURE. 1. The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland. By Thomas Moore, F.L.S., &c., and Edited by Dr. Lindley. 2. The Natural History of Ferns, British and Exotic. By E. J. Lowe, F.R.A.S., &c., &c. 3. The Ferns of Great Britain and their Allies. By Anne 4. A Popular History of the British Ferns and the Allied Plants. By Thomas Moore, F.L.S., &c. Caste and Christianity. By Temple Christian Faber 328 V. FRENCH NOVELS AND FRENCH PLAYS. ouvrage couronné par l'Institut. One Vol. 8o.. QUARTERLY REPORT OF FACTS AND PROGRESS. 1. New Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act 2. Indian Mutinies and Indian Missions 3. The Neophyte Writers' Society THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND Quarterly Review. JULY, MDCCCLVII. The Monumental History of Egypt, as recorded on the Ruins of her Temples, Palaces, and Tombs. By WILLIAM OSBURN, R.S.L., Author of "The Antiquities of Egypt," "Ancient Egypt, her Testimony to the Truth," &c. In Two Vols. London: Trübner and Co. ABOUT five hundred miles south of the Mediterranean Sea, a ridge of granite mountains stretches from east to west, or in the same direction with its coast. Through a gap in these mountains, which it may be thought it has formed at some remote period, a large river rushes rapidly over ledges of rock. This river is the Nile; and this cataract-which, if we can believe ancient writers, was formerly a much greater obstacle to the navigator than it is at present-is its entrance into Egypt. As its waters proceed northward to the sea, they are confined by two long chains of mountains, beyond which are barren deserts. These mountain chains remain nearly parallel, at an average interval of about nine miles, until the river arrives within about one hundred miles of the sea. They then diverge to the north-east and to the north-west respectively. This latter branch, which is called the Lybian mountain, extends as far as the sea; but the other soon terminates, sinking gradually into that sandy, shingly desert between Cairo and Suez, through which the main line of communication between England and her Indian empire is now carried. This desert extends northward to the sea. When no longer confined between the two chains of mountains that were so long its barriers, the Nile divides its waters, forming what is called a delta from its resemblance to the Greek letter ▲ so named. Only two mouths of the Nile are now open; but it had formerly no less than seven. VOL. XLII. B Deltas of the same nature as that of the Nile exist at the mouths of the Rhine, the Danube, and other large rivers; but, in some important respects, the Nile differs from all of these. For a very great way from the sea it receives no tributary stream; nor is it fed by the drainage of the country through which it passes; for in Egypt, as a general rule, no rain falls. The immense supply of water necessary to keep up so vast a river comes from remote regions not far from the equator. A number of rivers, the sources of some of which have never been visited by a European, unite their waters to form this mighty stream. The confluence nearest to the sea is about a thousand miles distant from it, as a bird might fly; and the actual distance along the river itself, which winds considerably in its course, must be much greater than this. Ät all seasons of the year the Nile is a large river; but every summer its waters overflow its banks, and cover the greater part of the space between the mountain chains and of the Delta; the towns and villages, which are always built upon eminences, appearing at this time as islands in a sea. When this inundation subsides, it leaves upon the ground a coating of mud, containing, as Ehrenberg has found by microscopic examination, the remains of countless minute animals, with other organic matter, the fertilizing powers of which are exceedingly great. Beyond where this mud reaches, it is not considered profitable to sow the ground; and, accordingly, the height of the inundation, which differs in different years, is the measure of the harvest to be expected, and it regulates the payments which the husbandman has to make for his land. Egypt is thus dependent on the Nile in a way in which no other country is on its rivers; and for this reason the name of Egypt has been restricted by many writers to the country which derives fertility from the Nile, no account being made of the desert which lies outside this. In this restricted sense, Egypt contains about eight thousand square miles, or about an eleventh part of the surface of Great Britain. When, however, it is considered to extend to the Red Sea, and to the imaginary lines of partition which are drawn across the desert in maps, Egypt is somewhat larger than the whole of Great Britain. Taking it in this wider sense, it includes some ports on the Red Sea, of which it may suffice to mention Suez, and some inhabited districts beyond the Lybian mountains. Of these, all but one are completely detached from the valley of the Nile, and are only to be reached by crossing the desert. They are called Oases, and one of them is of considerable extent. |